Hawaiian Vacation Part II

After spending about four days with my sister and her husband on O'hua we flew to the Big Island. We stayed in Kileaua National Park at a lodge the military maintains there for their members. We had a very nice one bedroom cottage. We spent our time on the Big Island hiking around the volcano, driving around the coast, spending some time at the beach, and one night we went up the observataroy. Brigham loves to look at the stars.

Hiking through a crater at Kileaua National Park

Through some rain forests in the National Park

At another crater

Brigham and Anna at the black sand beach

James playing the sand he actually went straight into the water this time, unfortunately he was not wearing a swimsuit.

At Akua Falls

This is at South Point which apparently is the southern most point of the United States.

Brigham and James at South Point

After the big Island we flew back to O'hau and spent two more days with my sister and husband. Anna loved her aunt's red necklace.

Hawaiian vacation Part I

Four days after Brigham returned from Afghanistan, we took a family vacation to Hawaii. We visited my sister who lives on O'hua and then went to the Big Island for five days. We had a wonderful time and it was a great way to get to know each other again without the stress of everyday life.

Brigham and Anna playing in the water. James used to love the beach but he refused to go into the water this time and just wanted to play in the sand. But after he saw Brigham and I swimming for a while he ran took off from his aunt Liz and came in with us.

Anna was doing a wonderful job sitting up until she face planted in the sand. Being the angel she is, the sand did not bother her.

James liked two things at the Polynesian Cultural Center: the drums and the hula dancers.

Anna with her Aunt Lizzie. We discovered on this trip that Anna is a terrible flirt. The object of her affection was my sister's husband, David. Luckily Liz is not the jealous type.

The Surreal Life

Brigham has been home from Afghanistan for three weeks and things still feel somewhat surreal and that feeling has only intensified since returning from Hawaii. Each day has a kind of shapeless, dream-like quality to it as we try to find a new family groove. This feeling is aided by the additional clutter around the house (i.e. his unpacked military bags that we have no clue what to do with) that make it difficult for me to try to get back into a routine of housekeeping. Added to this is relearning how to cook enough food for Brigham. I forgot just how much he can eat. I am so used to cooking for myself and James and throwing out a lot of leftovers each week because we just couldn't eat it all. But now...there are no leftovers! and Brigham asks what else is there to eat! I am also trying to adjust to sharing a bed again. I got so used to having a big bed to myself and I have to admit, the one perk to having a husband deployed while pregnant is having a bed to oneself.

One of the biggest adjustment is to stop feeling like things are back to "normal" when he is gone from the house. I still feel like he is only home for a short time and will soon have to leave again for a long time. So things will be surreal until I can find the new normal.